Ballards - Southern Style BBQ in Lovejoy, GA

Well if any of you are heading down to Hampton, GA and the Atlanta Racetrack for the race next weekend, I highly recommend a new place in Lovejoy. It's a very short distance off the main drag and very much worth the trip.

Ballards, Southern Style BBQ is a mom & pop place run by a local deputy sheriff and his wife who is also a deputy. Butch Ballard has been smoking and catering for decades and finally took the plunge this summer to open his own place. You get more food than most folks should be allowed to eat and the flavor is excellent. Like most true pitmasters, Butch rolls his own sauce which has won several awards (and is my personal favorite of all the BBQ houses in the area). Ballard's is also the home of a super sized chopped pork sandwich they call "Porkzilla" - the largest bbq sandwich on the planet. It lives up to it's name.

It's located on GA Hwy 3, just East of Hwy 41/19. If you get a chance to stop in a see Butch, tell him "Sham" sent 'ya.

PS, the "corn nuggets" are wonderful and they also make awsome scratch cobblers (peach and blackberry).